I felt her look at me again as I examined my smile.
“No, nothing.” She reached over and pushed up the mirror. “Honestly, it’s not you, doll. You’re fine.”
“Okay.” I gave her a weary look.
All of a sudden, her cool demeanor melted into that famous Southern hospitality. “You were asking about Green Valley. Anybody in particular you looking for?” she asked sweetly. “I know everybody and their mamas.”
“I believe it. Nobody in particular.” Suddenly, I felt shy about delving into the truth of why I was here. Or one of the truths. She seemed a little too eager for information. If I could have done it subtly, maybe. But now I felt a bit cringy outright asking after Roxy.
I mean what were the chances this Gretchen LaRoe even knew my Roxy Kincaid anyway?
“Did you come all the way from Australia?” She snapped her gum loudly, causing me to flinch slightly. The woman scared me, if I was being honest.
“Ah, no. I’ve been in the States for some time. I’m from Denver.”
If I wasn’t crazy, I swore her hands gripped the steering wheel imperceptibly tighter.
“Here for business or pleasure?” she asked.
“Business.” I dug into my pocket and pulled out a card. “Looking to grow our company.”
She grabbed the card and looked it over. “Corporate adventure, huh?” She definitely seemed excited now. “Here.” She reached across my body to shuffle through her glove box. My eyes widened when I saw the gun. Americans.
“Ah, pretend you didn’t see that,” she said with a wink.
“See what?”
“Attaboy.” She handed me a card. “Feel free to call if you need anything while you are here. I’m a bit of a concierge for the town.”
The card read “Gretchen LaRoe - Fashion Consultant, Driver, Landlord, and all-around badass,” and handwritten on the bottom was added, “matchmaker - by appointment only.”
“Bit of a Jackie-of-all-trades, I see,” I said.
“You know it.”
“Thank you.” I slid her card into my wallet. “I’ll hold on to this.”
“I see you’re heading to Donner Lodge. Staying there?” she asked.
“Sure am. But also hoping to do business with them.”
“Corporate adventuring? Like trust falls in suits?” she asked.
“Sort of. The goal is team building. You really learn to trust your peers when they’re in charge of your ropes as you climb a mountain.”
“Yikes,” she said.
“This area seem good for corporate adventuring?” I asked.
“Sure. Green Valley can hardly contain itself with all the new growth,” she said. “You should definitely meet some locals. There’s tons of businesses that might like to partner with you.”
I felt the growing excitement that came when I was on a roll. I knew I screwed things up in Denver but I did have a nose for this stuff, a gut instinct for a new market in need.
“The Smokies are beautiful,” I said to fill the silence.
We shared a moment to appreciate the majestic beauty as the car pulled up to Donner Lodge. To be honest, it was a lot nicer than I expected. Skip mentioned that they were in the process of renovating. Gretchen pulled up the long driveway surrounded by a lush manicured lawn leading to a large main building painted a fresh farmhouse white. The driveway looped around and a few golf carts were parked waiting to take visitors to their getaway homes.
She put the car in park and turned to me with a dazzling smile. “Listen. Not sure how long you’re gonna be in town, but the Lodge is hosting a movie this Friday at the drive-in. It’s not as exciting as the nightlife in Denver, I’m sure. But it’ll be fun. A bunch of locals. Movie, food, beer. It’ll be fun if you’re looking for a good place to network. I’d be happy to introduce you to some of the bigwigs in town.”
